Page:Jewish Fairy Book (Gerald Friedlander).djvu/75

Rh magic lamp. Not only have I heard so much about your magical powers, I have to-night experienced how powerful your skill is in witchcraft. I have come to see your lamp and I now ask you to show it to me."

"With pleasure. Will your Majesty be good enough to follow me and I will show you the lamp, which I keep in my small sitting-room!"

They entered the little room and on the table in the center of the room there was a marvelous little lamp.

The King looked at it and said: "Wonderful! there is no oil here." The lamp was a crystal mortar full of phosphorus which had been melted some years previously in a few drops of olive-oil.

Naturally as this was the only source of illumination in the dark room it emitted light enough to enable one to see the different objects in the room.

"This is truly wonderful," exclaimed the King.

"Do not be astonished at this," said Jechiel. "God has given us various means of obtaining light without combustion. Have you never heard of plants that evolve light? Well, there are such plants. Has your Majesty never heard of the luminosity of decaying wood? There are even insects, such as the glow-worm and other beetles, which throw off light. Fish and other living things, such as sea-pens, are also luminous. The same can be said of a number of mineral substances, such as fluor-spar and